


To the Pier

by songofsongs



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Case Fic, F/F, Femslash, Mermaid Kali, spn femslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-05-10 02:36:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5566021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/songofsongs/pseuds/songofsongs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt 1: Fantasy au with one character as a human and the other as some sort of fantasy being (mermaid, vampire, etc.)<br/>Prompt 2: Canon setting, with the characters traveling and hunting together. I'd love to see a focus on them fighting any sort of monster. </p><p>The story mostly follows the first prompt, but does include elements of a typical case fic. </p><p>Summary: When Bela receives a job offer for a run-of-the-mill cursed object hunt, she never expects to discover a new species, or get involved with the slighted monarch herself.  Maybe this job isn't that typical after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To the Pier

“Do you have a reason to be here, ma’am?”

Bela’s hands gripped the metal railing separating her from the vast expanse of water in front of her. The spray from the ocean had made the metal slick and she slowly wiped her hands on her skirt before turning to the police officer. 

“I’m sorry, yes of course.” She pulled out her badge and handed it to the man. She watched him with eyes that were calculating and hard. The man gave the badge a quick once-over and handed it back to her, forcing himself to look her in the eye. 

“Well I ‘spose if you’re with the feds I should show you where it happened.”

Bela nodded and followed him as he led her down a flight of stairs, closer to the water and the ring of police tape surrounding one of the piers. Pier 59, according to a weather-beaten sign near the front. They ducked under the police tape and made their way towards the center of commotion, hushed as it was. 

Bela’s eyes laved over the black sheet lying on the ground as the officer watched her quietly. She turned to him abruptly and fired off the questions she’d prepared on her way that morning.

“Who found him?” Preliminary.

“Some poor woman going for her mornin’ run. Thought he was asleep, bless her heart. Rough way for a civilian to start off the morning.”

“What was the cause of death?”

“His neck kinda - exploded.”

She paused for a moment, her eyes widening just the slightest. “That’s definitely strange. What would make something like that happen?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out, Agent. But I’m no doctor, so it’s not gonna be from me. Never seen anythin’ like it.” As he said this, he reached down to pull the sheet off of the victim, just low enough to expose his neckline where his throat was split clean down the middle and stretched apart as if something had clawed its way out. Bela stared for a minute, committing it to memory for now, and nodded to the officer. As he replaced the sheet she asked her next question. 

“Did you find anything on the body?”

“A wallet, cellphone, and pair of plyers. There was a tackle box on the ground about 10 feet away.”

Bela’s eyes zeroed in on the box, marked with a small red evidence label. The lid was propped open and the box laying on its side. Some of the contents had spilled out onto the pier. “Late night fishing trip?”

“We actually think he was diving. All his gear was on the floor in his boat just over there,” he said, pointing off a ways where another flock of police officers were crawling all over a small, seemingly unthreatening fishing boat. “-still damp when we found ‘im this morning. We think what happened was this: after…that happened to his neck, he musta tried to get to the box to get to his phone. That was on the floor when we found him, closer to the body than the box. He managed to get into his contacts before he dropped the thing, but he didn’t get a chance to call for help.”

“Is there any video surveillance for this area?”

He sighed. “Just the one camera,” he said pointing about fifty feet away to where a camera was fixed to the side of a building. “Strange thing is, all the footage from last night was completely wiped. We’re looking into it.”

Bela nodded thoughtfully, rubbing her hands together at the reminder of the chilly air. She found her eyes drawn once again to the gray waters, almost entirely dormant besides the small crests awaking just in time to die against the shore. “I’m going to need the contact information of the woman who discovered him, if it’s available.”

“Yeah, I can have one of my officers fetch it for you. Is there anything else you need, ma’am?”

“A warm cup of tea would be nice, thank you, sir.” 

He fidgeted with the hem of his shirt for a moment before smiling and nodding to her. She didn’t watch as he walked away. Instead she moved away from the body towards the tackle box. Crouching down next to it she carefully scanned its contents. She didn’t find anything interesting and straightened herself before turning and walking toward the end of the pier, closer to the victim’s boat. In the distance the officer was frantically looking for someone to find the nearest tea shop.

The dull tapping of Bela’s shoes against the wood beneath her combined with the rhythmic splashing of the water against the shore behind began to lull her once again into the same daze she’d experienced just minutes before. Her walk slowed and she scanned the water again, focusing just above the horizon where she knew the sea continued beyond what she could see. She slowed to a stop for several seconds, until her trance was suddenly broken by the loud splash to her right. She walked to the edge and looked over the side, more on auto-pilot than out of any real curiosity, and just managed to glimpse something long and slim snaking underneath the surface before diving down into the dark, away from Bela’s sight.

“Planning on going fishing later?”

Bela snapped back at the voice coming from just behind her, much too close for comfort. She stepped away from the edge of the pier shuffling around the man until she was a safe distance away from him and the edge. And whatever was in the water.

“I’m sorry, do I know you?”

“Sorry, I should have introduced myself.” He thrust his hand out for her to take. “The name’s Claudius. We spoke this morning.”

Her own hand immediately moved to grasp his as she found herself responding, “Sir, it’s nice to meet you. I wasn’t aware you’d be here…at all.” His hand was clammy and she quickly pulled hers back.

“What can I say? I like to do business in person. I trust you’ve gotten a good look at the body then.”

“Yes. It matched the incredibly…vivid description you gave me in your email.” She hesitated for a moment before continuing. “The item was nowhere to be found, however.”

Claudius’ eyes darkened for a moment, but then like a flash of lightning it was gone and his face was level and content. “I trust you’ll find a way to track it down and return it to me. I’m not mistaken, am I, Ms. Talbot?”

Bela held his eyes for a moment, hers cold and his colder, before nodding once slowly. “I imagine you wouldn’t have hired me otherwise, Mr…Claudius.”

“Wonderful.” His voice rolled over her like mist, raising the hair on the back of her neck. “We’ll talk again soon, Miss. In the meantime, remember I am not a patient man.” He turned away and started walking back toward the shore but froze and looked back over his shoulder with a smile. “And do stay away from the water, darling. I hear the Sirens are all bite and no bark.”

Bela managed to wait until he had walked a significant distance away before rolling her eyes. At the warning, at the nickname, at his outfit. Who wore shoes that expensive to a beach? Even she had ditched her beloved heels for something a little more reasonable that morning. 

She spared one more glance over to the water rocking back and forth like the trees in a storm and then abruptly returned to her job. She made a mental checklist as she moved down the pier. First, inspect the boat. Second, get the contact info for the witness. Third, see what was taking so long on her goddamn tea. Fourth, séance.

 

The hotel room was a bit colder than Bela was used to, but she was making do. Her thick coat helped to alleviate some of the chill and the candles set up around the Ouija board in front of her cast a warm glow over her face and hands. They were more useful as a heating element than anything involved in the actual communication with spirits. The board alone would have sufficed for that. 

She shifted around in her chair, making sure she was comfortable before settling in for the conversation. Sometimes she got lucky and the spirit would give her the information she needed before trotting off on its merry way. 

Usually, she wasn’t so lucky.

Most spirits wanted to play games, especially the young ones. Some wanted to talk for ages about their lives, especially the old ones. Some didn’t speak English, which was why she had the translator app on her phone set up next to the board. Others had never learned to read or write at all and then she was forced to interpret the shapes they drew on the board or restrict them to ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers. It was like a spiritual telephone call combined with a game of Russian roulette, where the consequence of bad luck was losing several hours of her day and dealing with cold, aching fingers, and the consequence of not playing by the rules was seriously pissing off a spirit. Pissed off spirits never made her job easier. 

She took a few deep breaths, preparing herself physically and mentally. Using a board alone wasn’t easy, and though she’d been in the business for years at this point and she could hold a steady conversation with a spirit by herself, it still took a toll on her energy. Bela placed her finger tips on the planchette and spoke. 

“My name is Bela. I’m seeking information about the death at pier 59 last night. Are there any spirits listening that would be able to help me?”

It took a little over a minute for the planchette to move. It centered itself over the cursive ‘yes’ in the corner, crooked at first but then straightening itself out almost as an afterthought. Bela smiled. “Hello. What’s your name?”

The piece moved quickly to the ‘A’, then to the ‘J’, then stopped. 

“A.J., thank you for talking to me. Do you mind telling me how old you are?”

The piece moved slower this time to the number one and then the number zero. Bela couldn’t say she was surprised, she’d had her suspicions, but that didn’t stop the sick feeling from pooling in her stomach whenever she spoke to a child spirit. 

“Ten years old? That’s a great age. I’m twenty-six, not so fun. Tell me, A.J., did you see what happened to the man on the beach?” 

The piece moved slowly again. 

SCARY

“I’m sure it was, and you’re very brave for talking about it so soon. If you don’t want to, that’s alright, but I need to know if the man was carrying something with him. Something that someone took from him after he – afterward.” Bela waited patiently while A.J. figured out what to say. 

TIARA

“Yes, exactly. A tiara, like for a princess. Did you see who took it from him?”

The planchette moved to the word ‘no,’ and Bela held back her sigh of disappointment. Upsetting the child wouldn’t move this process along, and really the kid didn’t deserve it. 

Bela took a moment to mull over her options here: sever the communication quickly and pursue other options, or press for more information and risk wasting her time. Before she could make up her mind, however, the board moved suddenly to spell out something new.

THERE WAS A MONSTER

Bela paused, then stuttered out, “A monster? You mean the thing that crawled out of his neck?”

The planchette jerked over to the word ‘no’ but didn’t stay longer than a moment before A.J. answered her.

IN THE WATER

Suddenly a memory flashed through Bela’s mind, something slithering away beneath the surface of the water. 

“Did the monster in the water kill him? What did it look like A.J.?”

The light of the candles danced across the surface of the board as the planchette moved again, quickly, agitated.

IT WATCHED HIM DIE

“Can you tell me anything else? Has the monster ever been there before?”

YES. ONLY AT NIGHT

“And you didn’t see the monster take the tiara? Who has the tiara, A.J.? I need to find it – so that it doesn’t hurt anyone else.”

ONLY AT NIGHT

“A.J. –“

ONLY AT NIGHT

The planchette stopped moving and Bela waited. She waited for one minute, then two, and finally she called out to A.J. The room waited with baited breath but the presence of the child had long since leeched from the place. Bela gave a quick thanks, said goodbye, and closed the conversation. 

Only at night. The words didn’t leave her mind for the rest of the day, and as she considered her next course of action they nagged at her. It definitely wasn’t a good idea, but it was the only thing she had to do for now, and it was clearly what A.J. wanted her to do. Using a board twice in one day would drain her faster than a marathon, but what choice did she have? 

 

Bela pulled her coat tightly around her, making her way down the now familiar steps to the pier surrounded by police tape. There were no cameras around. She supposed that a small beachside town wouldn’t feel the need for such extremes as she ducked beneath the caution tape and stepped out onto the wooden dock. She made her way down to the end, where the ground below her feet suddenly dropped off into murky blackness. Also where the victim’s boat had been parked this morning, probably towed away and stored somewhere for evidence. 

She sat down about ten feet from the end of the pier, not wanting to be too close to the water, and set up a few candles in a crescent shape with just enough room to fit the spirit board in the middle. The water splashing against the legs of the pier was closer to her now during high tide, but it still made the perfect calming backdrop as she prepared to use the board. About ten minutes of meditation and she finally placed her hands in position and opened the call.

“My name is Bela. I’m seeking information about the death that occurred here last night. Are there any spirits nearby that would be willing to help me?”

The wait began, the chill of the night seeping into her bones now with nothing to distract her. The wind sang through the air and her hands shook. Finally, several minutes later the planchette moved. She watched in fascination as it spelled out the name Mike in jerky, sharp movements. An inexperienced spirit, probably new to being dead. She smiled.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mike. Did you see what happened to the man on the pier last night?” The planchette was frozen for another long moment and Bela feared he’d left already, but then it slid across to the word ‘yes.’

“That’s great, Mike. Could you tell me about the crown? Do you know where the crown is now?” She almost began by asking about the “monster” in the water but held her tongue.

To no surprise the spirit didn’t answer immediately.

WHY

Bela smiled politely again. “The crown is very dangerous and I’m trying to make sure it doesn’t end up in the wrong hands, or hurt anybody else.”

NO

Bela frowned. “No? No you don’t want to tell me?”

YOU DONT CARE

“No, I promise you I do,” she said, starting to shift about nervously. Her head started to swim and her words were slower than usual.

I WAS THERE. YOURE WORKING. I WAS DEAD YOU DIDNT CARE.

Bela suddenly felt as if she’d been submerged into a bath of cold water. “Mike? Michael Rowans? Is this you?”

The planchette didn’t move and that in itself was an answer. Of course the victim’s spirit would still be floating around. She thought back to how she’d inspected the body that morning, her mannerisms colder than the morning air. She hadn’t even bothered pretending to be sympathetic to the man, he was just her job. This was a mistake.

“Michael, I’m so sorry. This is clearly upsetting you. I’ll go now.” New spirits were even touchier than the older ones, and the anger of slighted new ghost was not worth the risk.

IM DEAD. YOU DONT CARE

“I do care, I’m so sorry this happened to you.” She started to tell him goodbye, though it seemed pointless at this point to be polite, when the temperature dropped steeply around her. She tensed and accidentally pulled her hands off the planchette, which was promptly flung towards the end of the dock. 

Bela sat in silence, knowing Michael didn’t really have the strength to do any serious damage to her. Nothing happened. She stood up and walked toward the end of the pier to pick up the planchette. The pitch black waters licked at the sides of the support beams below her before melting back into the sea. She shivered and looked away, but the board piece was nowhere to be found. It didn’t fall in, or she would have heard a splash. Pulling her coat tighter around her shoulders she turned away, growing more confused as she spotted the piece laying calmly on top of the board. Michael put it back? No, that made no sense. Young spirits were never that rational, or apologetic. The waves behind her grew louder and the candles flickered back and forth in the breeze, a soft orange smile beckoning her back.

The planchette was moving slowly across the board and she inched closer to see what it was saying. It was the same three letters over and over again but she couldn’t make it out until she was a few feet away from it again, but when she did her blood ran cold.

RUN

Before she could even react, the water to the right of her erupted with a shriek and a spray of water and then Bela was surrounded by cold. It sucked the remaining energy from her body. She couldn’t think of anything, focus on anything other than the freezing waters pulling her deeper down and away from the open air. At some point the black of the water encasing her became a blackness that spread through her mind and she slept. 

 

She dreamed she was lying in a field of soft, swaying grass. Everything around her was cold but she was held firm, secure, and after a while the cold went away. Maybe she was warm now. Maybe she stopped feeling the cold. Maybe she was dead, but she couldn’t bring herself to care, not when the sky around her was brightening and a sweet sound was stealing her attention away: a melody that dipped in and out of her mind like the ebbing of the tides. The grass started caressing her face, then her arms and legs too. Then it was tightening around her arms and legs. Funny. She tugged one hand away from the grass and it tightened more. She laughed. She felt it pulling her arms away from her until they were taut to on either side, as her legs were also stretched rigid below her. And still the grass pulled, wrapped firmly around her wrists and ankles. It pulled until she was sure she was going to break from the strain and then she started screaming.

When Bela woke she didn’t notice much at first. Her head was pounding and sluggish, in fact her whole body felt weighed down. She tried to move her arms and legs but something was stretching them away from her body. Her range of sight only extended about ten feet on either side before the light just…ended, and turned into swirling murky black. She looked up to see silvery whisps dancing across the surface of the water and for too long she was transfixed watching them shifting about. 

Then her memories hit her like a sledgehammer: the pier, the ghost, the thing in the water, then the all-consuming cold. She started struggling frantically now and noticed that her restraints were actually kelp, tall strips of sea weed that were swaying gently in the water but still held her fast in place, as if the she wasn’t there at all. When she realized she was underwater her first reaction was to stop breathing, but she quickly gave that up and continued breathing in the lukewarm water. 

She was trying to calm herself down and think of a way out her restraints when something dark flashed past the corner of her eye. When she turned her head it was gone, disappearing back into the wall of black. Before she’d thought it through she yelled out after it, wishing it would just kill her rather than leave her strung up any longer. Surprisingly, her voice actually carried through the water, even echoing around the small space. 

Another flash of dark, this time on the other side, and she turned her head to catch it. When it disappeared back into the dark she screamed, “What do you want from me?!” 

She appeared in front of her, dropping down from the stars above and stopping a few feet away. Bela regretted each time she’d called her a thing, wondered how anyone could think of her as a monster. Granted, from the waist down she couldn’t be called human; in place of two legs was a long, crimson red fin that moved back and forth through the water as mindlessly as breathing. At waist level the fin melted into warm brown skin that had to be human. Bela noticed a few more things about her: a flat chest, webbed fingers, unmistakable gills on either side of her neck. She carried herself with an air of authority, similar to the one Bela had perfected in her life except this one couldn’t be for show, but what really stole Bela’s attention was her face. She was stunning, with her long nose, cupid bow lips and eyes dark as the water around her, eyes that were watching Bela now.

Bela was in shock, to say the least, and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “So you’re a mermaid, then?”

The mermaid narrowed her eyes. Instead of answering, her hand shot out to grip tightly to Bela’s jaw, squeezing so hard she feared it would bruise, and that wasn’t something she could explain away easily. 

“From now on you won’t speak unless spoken to. I’ll be asking the questions.”

Now that Bela was no longer distracted by the strange circumstances or the pretty face in front of her, the helpless situation she was in started to really hit her. Her stomach sank, and memories starting crawling out of the depths of her mind that she had long ago painstakingly buried. She yanked her jaw away and shot a glare back in turn.

The mermaid raised her eyebrows, and looked, just for a moment, a touch impressed. The she whipped her head to the side, eyes narrowing in on something just beyond the wall of black. She seemed to listen to something for a second and then nodded, turning back to face Bela once again.

“I suppose I should start by explaining why you’re here, since you insist on being difficult. My name is Kali. I’ve led my people for the past 800 years and I have supreme authority for miles along the coast and out to sea. Something of mine was recently stolen from me, but I’m sure you know all about that.”

Bela stared at her in shock. The crown, the “cursed object” she’d been sent to retrieve hadn’t been lost at the bottom of the ocean for centuries after all. She was gonna kill Claudius if she ever got out of the ocean.

She steeled herself and started talking. “Look, there has been a huge misunderstanding. I had no idea the crown belonged to anybody, especially not somebody as powerful as you. Er, Your Highness.”

Kali’s face stayed serious and hard, but for just a moment her eyes danced. “Kali is fine, Ms. Talbot.” She darted away from Bela, turning around where she was fixed in the center of the space until she was back in front of her. Her body was all fluid motion, tightly controlled power bound in sleek lines, and Bela was breathless. 

“I want you to tell me everything you know about my crown, or at least everything you thought you knew. Starting with who told you about it and who has it currently.”

Bela nodded. “I’ll tell you everything you I know, as long as you answer a few of mine.”

Kali rolled her eyes. “I can’t tell you anything confidential, but I’ll give it a shot.”

“First, you have to promise me that I’ll be getting out of here alive.”

There was a moment of silence. “You have my word.”

“And unharmed.”

Kali frowned, looking off to the edge of the area again before shrugging. “Whether that’s necessary depends on how well you can cooperate. Will you agree to cooperate with us, Ms. Talbot?”

They held one another’s eyes, neither of them moving, neither of them willing to be the first to break. The weeds holding Bela in place tightened a bit, reminding her that she wasn’t in control of this situation, and she finally caved. 

“There’s more of you, then? Out there,” she asked nodding to the wall of darkness surrounding them.

Kali nodded.

“How many?”

“Confidential.”

Bela huffed. “Do you usually have contact with humans?”

“We observe. We don’t interact.”

“How are you doing this,” she asked, gesturing with her head at their surroundings. “How am I not drowning right now?”

Kali looked thoughtful for a few moments before calling out loudly, “Tari! Mercury! Come out now.”

Another mermaid materialized out of the darkness to her right. He was slim, broad-shouldered, and carried himself with a grace similar to Kali’s. His tail was brightly patterned, reminding her of some of the tropical fishes she’d seen on the T.V. He swam directly to her, sized her up for a moment and then whipped away, stopping just behind Kali and leveling her with a cool stare. 

To her left, another came forward. She was shorter than the other two, her tail striped white and pale orange. Bela thought of a clown fish. She was also chubbier than her counterparts, and her big cheeks and small eyes looked kind as she smiled apologetically at Bela before joining the other in front of her. 

“This is mercury,” Kali said, nodding to the brightly colored man. “You can think of him as a bodyguard of sorts. And this,” she continued nodding to the clown fish, “is Tari. She’s responsible for the magic keeping you alive right now.”

“Oh well, I would say thank you for that, but I didn’t exactly ask to be here in the first place.” Bela looked harshly at Tari who was looking away sheepishly.

Kali moved forward, between Bela and Tari. “Don’t insult any of my people, Ms. Talbot. I thought we had agreed to cooperate.” Her voice was as icy as the sea had been as it first pulled her into its depths. She shivered at the memory. “That’s enough questions on your behalf. You should start telling me everything you know about my crown now.”

“I received an email early this morning offering me a job. Apparently a young man was found with his throat ripped out on the beach this morning. The wounds matched up with old tales about a magical crown that killed anyone who tried to wear it, which seems to have some truth to it.” Tari and Mercury both shifted uncomfortably while Kali stared coldly back at Bela. She raised one eyebrow and Bela continued.

“The job seemed simple enough, it wasn’t far from where I was at the time, and it paid well. So I took it. I drove out to the pier, took a look at the body and surprise, surprise: no crown. I assume somebody must have taken it. And they had to have been familiar with it considering a second body has yet to turn up.” 

She went on to explain the run in with Claudius, the witness she had yet to talk to, the two séances, and finally being tackled into the water. As she recounted that last event she noticed Mercury smirking. 

“Oh, you think that was funny, fish boy?”

Mercury narrowed his eyes before lunging at Bela, but Kali’s hand clamped down hard on his shoulder, jerking him back behind her. “Please forgive my apprentice. It was him I sent to fetch you from the pier. I’m sorry that he seems to have enjoyed it more than necessary, although considering it’s his fault my crown is missing at all, he shouldn’t be having any fun for quite a while.” She didn’t even look back at him but he still withered under her words and looked away shamefully.

Bela tugged at the kelp around her wrists, glad that they weren’t tight enough to cut off the circulation but still growing more and more bitter at being restrained. “Look, I’ve told you everything I know. Please let me go and I’ll leave this place and never look back.”

“I suppose-“ Tari quickly interrupted Kali, whispering something in her ear before glancing at Bela with a sparkle in her eyes.

Kali looked thoughtfully at Bela and asked, “You said you’ve done this before? Tracking things down? Are you any good?”

“Well I made a career out of it,” Bela said, wary of where this was going.

Kali nodded. “In that case I’d like to keep you around a bit longer. Not down here of course,” she said cutting off Bela’s protests, “but if you help me find my crown I can pay you back in more riches than you’ve seen in your tiny human lifetime.” 

Bela stared in shock, but before she could even think about replying Mercury darted forward, grabbing Kali’s forearm. “You can’t be serious! I told you I would get it back for you, please just kill her.”

Tari started prying his hand gently but forcefully away from Kali who still refused to look at him. “Tari please take him away and begin preparing the spell.”

“You can’t go up there! Kali please-“ He didn’t get to finish the sentence before Tari had pulled him out into the darkness, silencing his cries.

In the dead quiet left behind Bela finally found her words. “You promised me I would live.” 

“That wasn’t the original plan, but yes I did. And I always keep my promises so don’t worry.”

Bela tugged restlessly at her restraints again.

Kali winced. “I would try very hard to get out of those. They’re the only reason that water in your lungs hasn’t suffocated you.”

Bela froze, then composed herself. “What’s the spell for then?”

“It’s a temporary spell that will allow me to take human form.” When Bela looked shocked she continued, “You didn’t think I’d put you in charge of finding my crown on your own, did you? I’d like to make sure it’s in safe hands as soon as possible.”

“Why?” The word slipped out before she noticed, but after she said it she charged on. “What’s so special about your crown that you feel justified is murdering someone who tries to take it? Does it grant the wearer power over your kingdom or something?”

Kali threw her head back and laughed. “The only way my authority can shift to another is with my express permission. That crown was hand-made by my mother for my coronation over 800 years ago. It’s more highly regarded in these waters than the crown jewels belonging to your own royalty.”

As she spoke she drifted back and forth in front of Bela, facing one direction then turning and swimming in the other. Bela realized with some amusement that this must be the mermaid equivalent of pacing. She suddenly imaged Kali as a human queen, pacing up and down a richly decorated throne room as she recounted tales of her own bravery in battle. There was a crown resting on a dark head of hair and a thick cloak around her shoulders that brushed the ground as she walked. White candles lined the walls; the flames danced for the queen, glinting off the sword at her hip and her teeth as they flashed between her lush lips-

“Ms. Talbot!”

Bela’s attention snapped back to the mermaid in front of her, whose face was now only a few inches away. Bela breathed out quickly and Kali shook her head. 

“I guess humans aren’t very good at listening nowadays.”

Bela may have protested to that but was stopped as Tari broke through the darkness surrounding them with something clutched tightly in her hands. A pair of thick goggles were strapped around her head, magnifying her small eyes to a comical size. She held the object up for Kali to take. It was a seashell, just bigger than a quarter, which was attached to a long string that floated lazily in the water. Kali took it from her with a gentle smile and turned, quickly placing it around Bela’s neck.

Bela pulled back in shock. “I’m wearing it?”

Kali sighed, but gestured for Tari to explain. Tari fiddled nervously with her goggles before pushing them nervously up to her forehead. When she spoke her voice was croaky, but still calming. “You see, the original spell would only allow any of us to walk on land from sunrise ‘till sunset. Once the moon was out, we had to be back in the water, or our legs would…dissolve underneath us.”

Bela sucked in a sharp breath and a dark look passed over Kali’s face. The water around them rippled with a wave of grief, and Tari hurried to finish. 

“Over the years, I worked to improve the spell, but so far the only thing that has any lasting effect is to bind ourselves to a human. Your energy gives the spell enough of a boost that we can leave the water while the moon is still out. We still have to return to the sea by sundown, but it buys us a few hours. Valuable hours!” She nodded, pleased with her explanation.

Bela looked down at the necklace floating calmly in front of her chest. Two séances in one day, and now she was to be a mermaid conduit. Perfect.

“I need a vacation.”

Kali rolled her eyes. “You can take a vacation once my crown is returned. Tari, start the incantation.” Kali swam forward until she was only a foot in front of Bela. Before Bela could say anything more Tari started reciting something in a language Bela had never heard. Kali didn’t look away from Bela’s eyes once, not even when Tari moved to trace some symbol on her forehead. She repeated the symbol on Bela’s forehead, which tingled and heated where she’d marked. Tari moved to clutch the seashell in her hand and traced the symbol onto the back of it, and when she let go it fell heavy against Bela’s breast. 

There was a sudden shift in the water around her, a steady vibration that thrummed through her whole body. The vibrating became stronger and stronger, louder and louder until it drowned out the strange words being spoken by Tari. She felt as if an electric current was running through her body. Kali’s level gaze was the only thing keeping Bela grounded, so she strained to keep her eyes locked with the other woman’s. 

Bela couldn’t understand what was happening anymore, too distracted by the power coursing in and around her, but she looked on numbly as Kali reached for the shell around her neck, her fingertips barely brushing her skin. Kali lifted the shell to her mouth, not looking away from Bela, and pressed her lips against it. Bela felt something click into place in her mind and all the vibrations finally fell away. 

In the calm that followed she was vaguely aware of being untied and held tightly as the water sped passed her. Or maybe she was moving through the water. Her mind was fuzzy again and her limbs felt too heavy to lift, and she felt as if she was being pulled for a long time. Eventually her lungs started to burn, but she knew she shouldn’t try to breathe in. Black started to dance across her vision, and she lifted her head to see those dancing silver shapes from earlier. They were the last thing she remembered seeing. 

 

When she woke, the first thing she felt was the stinging pain of the cold air. She struggled to consciousness, gasping in breaths that made her throat and lungs burn. As she tried to get up, a gentle hand settled on her chest, pushing her back to the ground.

“You’re fine, Bela. Give yourself a few moments to recover from the spell. Here,” she placed something flat and smooth in Bela’s hand and instantly Bela could feel the cold leaving her body. It took a few minutes for her breathing to even out but finally she pushed herself off the ground and looked around. It was still dark, but the sky was just beginning to lighten so Bela assumed dawn wasn’t far away. She’d have just enough time to get back to the hotel, shower, and eat something before continuing on with her case. Or so she thought, before remembering Kali.

Kali was sitting on her knees, leaning forward slightly and watching Bela with a patient look on her face. When Bela turned towards her she leaned back on her haunches, her hands folded neatly in her lap, on top of…

“Is that my coat?”

Kali looked down at her lap, as if she had to check before answering. “Yes. I needed something to cover myself, and you don’t need it now that you have this.” She trailed her fingers over Bela’s hand which was still clutched around her necklace. Bela noted that she wasn’t nearly as cold as she should have been this early in the morning with wet clothes. 

“At least it does something useful. It didn’t buy us much time in the end, did it?”

“I didn’t realize you would sleep so long. The last human I performed the spell with had much practice with it. It hardly affected her at all.”

Bela let go of the shell. It bounced a bit and swung back and forth before stilling just at the base of her breasts. She wanted to ask how long she’d been asleep, but instead she asked, “How long has it been since you’ve been up here?”

Kali looked past Bela at the still morning waters of the sea before saying, “Just under 200 years.”

Bela wasn’t sure how to respond to that, or why she’d cared enough to ask in the first place, but after a few moments of silence Kali said, “Come on, take me home and we can create a plan of action.”

Kali rose gracefully to her feet. Bela followed suit in a way that felt much clumsier by comparison. 

“I don’t actually live here, so we’ll have to figure out a way to sneak you into my hotel room. I can give you some actual clothes when we get there. And then I need to eat.” She stopped walking for a moment. Kali paused and looked back at her impatiently. “Do you…eat?”

Kali’s face didn’t change for a moment and then she was laughing again with her head thrown back. Bela would never tire of how it transformed her features from their usual stony look into pure softness and joy. “Bela…I eat other sea creatures. Small fish, that sort of thing. But I don’t have to eat often so don’t worry about feeding me. Come on now.”

She turned and kept walking and Bela followed. The wind blew, cool but forcefully, blowing Kali’s dark, shoulder-length hair around her head. It was shorter than Bela had imagined. She took a moment to really drink in Kali like this, charging forward on two legs. She moved as gracefully as she had in the water. Bela hurried to catch up, the wind urging the two of them on together.

 

“The first thing we need to do is talk to the woman that found the victim,” Bela said, slipping on a pair of flats. Kali nodded, paying more attention to the contents of Bela’s suitcase than what she was saying. 

“Would you please just pick a shirt already?”

Kali paused, leveling Bela with an unimpressed look. “I haven’t worn clothes in decades. Excuse me for being picky.”

“We don’t have time to be picky, just put something on,” she said as she marched over to the bed, grabbed a red shirt on top and tossed it to her. Kali looked it over once then dropped it onto the bed and started undoing the buttons of her coat. Bela quickly looked away, and she thought she may have heard Kali snort. 

“I have the witness’s address. She may not know anything valuable but it’s a place to start.” She head Kali slipping the shirt on, along with whatever else she’d picked to borrow.

“Fine.”

Bela waited for her to continue but Kali seemed to be done talking. She shrugged and started collecting everything she needed for the job. Wallet, check. Gun, check. Lock picking kit, check. It was when she was leaning over to pick up the small bag holding all of her fake ID’s that she remembered she was wearing the necklace, and only because it swung down in front of her face. 

She straightened up and started to pull the necklace from around her neck when Kali’s hand reached around her to grip her wrist tightly. She could feel the other woman’s body pressed against hers as she pulled it from Bela’s grasp.

“You can’t take it off, Bela.”

“Okay.” Kali pulled back and Bela felt cold where her warmth had been. There was a few tense moments of silence before Bela brushed it off and returned to digging through her bag, wondering how she was going to explain why Kali was with her when she had no fake ID’s for her. 

 

Margaret Mackin’s house smelled like apples and brown sugar, which was a nice change to the ever present smell of sea water that seemed to cling to Bela’s very existence. Kali remarked that it was ‘too sweet.’ Bela countered it by saying that Kali spent so much time in the water and just wasn’t use to anything that smelled good.

The interview didn’t take long. Margaret had been out on her morning run, noticed someone lying on the pier and went to check on the person. He was dead. She was horrified. She called the cops. She never saw a crown.

It wasn’t until Bela asked about the security camera that the conversation finally became interesting.

“Now that you mention it…there was somebody walking away from the building where the camera was. I didn’t connect the two at first. I just thought he was kinda weird, in a creepy way. I kept screamin’ for him to call 911 but he just walked away down the beach.”

Bela and Kali were both leaned forward now, staring intently at her. “What did he look like,” Kali asked urgently.

Margaret frowned. “Oh, it was a bit too far to tell exactly. Average height, pretty slim, although his clothes didn’t seem to fit him too well so I could be wrong about that.”

Bela tried not to roll her eyes and point out that none of this was helpful when Margaret suddenly lit up and snapped her fingers.

“Now that I remember, he did seem to be limping.”

“Limping?” Kali repeated.

“Hmmm…maybe limping isn’t the right word. He was definitely walkin’ funny though. Kinda like his legs were asleep. I thought he was gonna fall over but he never did. Just stumbled his way down the beach.”

Bela mulled this over in her mind trying to connect this information to the rest of the case when she noticed that kali had gone stiff beside her, her face closed off and deadly cold. She nudged her softly with her elbow, and Kali seemed to come back to herself. 

“Did you have any other information? Anything you remember? Strange things about the body, or in the water?”

Bela suddenly remembered watching something slither away beneath the surface of the water. It felt like something she’d seen ages ago, not just yesterday. 

“No. Sorry ladies.”

 

They climbed into the car, both lost in their own respective thoughts. The breeze blew in through the passenger window and Bela was thankful that she’d had the foresight to lend a jacket to Kali. After a few moments Bela finally spoke. 

“Were you watching me? Yesterday morning on the pier…I saw someone in the water.”

Kali was looking at her now. She sighed and said, “Yes. When I realized my crown was gone I immediately went out to find it and I saw you walking down the pier…I shouldn’t have let you see me like that…but I couldn’t look away for some reason…”

Bela felt her face heating up, and Kali shook herself out of her thoughts. “I think I’ve been betrayed.”

Bela’s eyes widened. “By who?”

Kali looked out the window. “It’s too early to tell for sure. I can’t even say certainly that I’m right, but all the evidence is adding up.”

“Explain.”

Kali huffed at being given such a direct order, but acquiesced. “Not many human’s know about my crown, and even fewer would be able to resist putting it on for a whole day. And now…that woman said the man was walking like his legs had ‘fallen asleep.’ I remember the first time I walked on the land. It was like my lower half was made of gelatin, like it wasn’t fully connected to the rest of me yet…” She absently rubbed at her thighs as she finished. 

Bela stared at Kali’s hands. “Didn’t...you said Mercury was the reason you lost the crown? What did he do?”

“Mercury is my apprentice. One of his duties is to polish and care for the crown. A few nights ago, when he was cleaning it he heard some strange noises and went to investigate. When he came back it was gone.”

“So the diver happened to find the crown at the exact moment it was unguarded and swept away with it, didn’t touch it until he was at the pier, then has his throat ripped out. Someone else sees the crown and decides to take it?”

Kali was shaking her head before Bela had even finished. “Our kingdom is shrouded in magic. No one could have stumbled in and stolen anything.”

“Then someone on the inside took it out.”

The car sat heavy with the silence that followed that statement. 

“I guess I can’t deny it now. Somebody’s betrayed me.”

Bela turned to face her. “Kali I’m so sorry. I promise you we’ll find your crown before nightfall.”

Kali nodded absently but said nothing more. Bela pulled her keys out and slid them into the ignition. As she drove off she said, “We should go to the police station. They may have news about the security camera, or another victim.”

“Why don’t we talk to the man who offered you the job?”

Bela snorted. “Because I’ve never met someone I trusted less on sight than him. It’s best we keep him out of this entirely.”

The buildings and trees passed by them in a blur, the wind from the open window blowing their hair about wildly. She gripped the steering wheel tightly, deep in thought.

“How does the crown work, exactly?”

Kali looked over, not really seeing her at first but then focusing in and thinking about the answer.

“It doesn’t affect anyone that doesn’t touch it, but once they do it calls to them, compelling them to put it on. Once they do they’ll only have about a minute before it claws its way out of their neck.”

“What exactly is it?”

Kali bit her lip. “A small creature, undiscovered yet by humans. There isn’t an English word for them, but think of them as small rodents with limbs similar to those of a crab.”

Bela shuddered. “Seems like a steep price to pay for a robbery.”

“My crown is a symbol of my rule. Taking it wouldn’t grant the thief my authority but it is a direct challenge of my position.” Bela looked forward, unimpressed. “The oceans are an unforgiving place, Ms. Talbot. I know you’re used to the comfortable land life but some of us have to swim against the current every now and then.”

Bela laughed once, more like a bark. “If the ocean is unmerciful then humans are downright cruel. They’ll find someone weak and naïve and make their life a living hell. Children even.” Her voice broke on the last word and she blinked furiously at the windshield. 

Kali stared at her. Finally she too looked out the window and said, “You must be a strong swimmer, Bela Talbot.”

Bela didn’t respond, but she could feel the tension drain from her shoulders and her hands relaxed a bit on the steering wheel. 

 

As they walked up the steps into the police station Kali peered through the glass doors inside. Bela reached to push the doors open but was jerked abruptly to the side and pushed against the building. She gripped the front of Kali’s shirt, about to shove her away but Kali covered her mouth and whispered, “Shhhh. He’s inside.”

Bela frowned, but when she turned her head and leaned over to peak through the window she understood what Kali meant. Sitting in the waiting section was Claudius. He held a newspaper in his hand and a bored, impatient look on his face. Kali removed her hand from Bela’s mouth and they both slunk away from the window.

“How did you recognize him? From the pier,” she guessed.

“No. I’ve known that man for decades, although he used to wear a different face. His soul still sits on him like a rotten fish around his neck.” She wrinkled her nose angrily. 

“He’s a demon.” Bela felt her heart turn to ice in her chest, her stomach tightening painfully. Angry ghosts she could handle, mermaids too apparently, but demons were definitely outside of her comfort zone.

Kali reached out and plucked the seashell from where it was hanging, pulling Bela’s hand up and placing it in her palm. Instantly she felt herself calming. 

“Yes. His name was Crowley when I knew him, and he’s as vile as they come. You were right not to trust him.”

Bela felt an unexpected surge of pride at those words, and pushed her hair back from her face, clearing her throat.

“What do we do now?”

Kali blinked at her. “This is your job.”

Bela sighed. She wasn’t wrong. “We’ll wait here until he moves. He looks like he’s waiting for something, or someone. I’ll follow him while you distract the woman behind the desk. Just ask her any new information about the case, and if I’m not back in a few minutes come find me.”

Kali frowned. “Shouldn’t I follow him?”

Bela peered inside the building again. “Couldn’t put the queen in danger, could I?”

Inside, the woman behind the desk waved to Crowley, who immediately stood, relieved, and walked through a door in the back down a dim hallway. 

“He’s moving, hurry,” Bela said as she stepped toward the front doors. Kali stepped around her and, facing her, picked up the shell once again where it lay. She locked eyes with Bela, and slowly pressed a kiss to the surface of the shell in an imitation of the ritual from that morning. 

Bela felt like all the air had been sucked out of her lungs. Kali dropped the shell and stepped away with a smirk on her lips. “For luck.” Then she had swept away inside the building.

She was already leaning over the front desk talking to the woman behind it when Bela walked in. Bela had to do a second take when she realized that flirting was a better name for what was going on. And judging by the way the woman was smiling back at Kali and twirling a lock of her afro in her fingers, successful flirting was going on.

Bela felt her stomach tighten up like it had earlier, only when she reached up to touch the shell it didn’t go away. She shook it off and hurried across the room, rolling her eyes when the woman was so engrossed with Kali that she didn’t even notice Bela slip through the door after Claudius. Crowley, she corrected herself.

She walked down the hall slowly, listening for any sounds to tell her where the demon had disappeared. She got to the end, trying to decide whether to turn right or left when voices floated into her awareness just to the right of her. She crept closer to the nearest door, pressing her ear against it and slowing her breathing so it was quieter.

One of the voices was the sleazy tone belonging to Crowley, but the other she couldn’t put a face to. It was familiar though. 

“I told you I would take care of it on my own, now you’ve gone and gotten some human involved and she’s ruining everything I planned.”

“If you had just stuck to the plan we agreed on, she would be dead right now and we could be going our separate ways. But NO! You couldn’t let that damn thing out of your sight for a couple of hours, could you?”

“It belongs to me! I’m not going to leave it out in the open where anyone could take it. I kept it safe. I deleted the security footage. You’re the one who through the wrench in the cogs, Crowley! And now Kali’s walking around instead of in the water where she was supposed to be.”

He continued talking, but Bela couldn’t focus on his words over the pounding in her ears. Mercury. The brat that Kali claimed was her apprentice was behind this. Kali was going to be devastated, not that she’d show it.

“Speaking of Kali,” Crowley said, quietly, and much closer to the door than he’d been before. By the time Bela realized what was happening and lurched away from the door it was too late. The next thing she knew she was being pulled inside and slammed against the wall, all of her limbs immobilized and flat against the wall. Crowley smiled at her. Mercury glared at her.

“Ms. Talbot, what a nice surprise. I thought you were the good ole queen herself. Were you aware that you reek like seawater?” Crowley stepped closer to her, sniffing at her collar bone. Bela turned her head away in disgust. “And this is new,” he said, tapping the seashell hanging around her neck. “Well, not new to me, but I haven’t seen one in quite a while.”

“What do you want with Kali,” she bit out, ignoring Crowley completely and addressing Mercury instead.

He shrugged. “Nothing really. I just want her gone. Once she’s dead I can rule our people the way they deserve. We can expand, grow, we’ll even be able to live on the land once I make Tari perfect that spell Kali abandoned all those years ago.”

“You won’t be able to come back from words that treasonous, Mercury.” All the heads in the room snapped to where Kali was now standing in the doorway, all except an officer Bela now noticed in the corner of the room who was looking nowhere. His vacant expression was unsettling, so Bela turned her eyes back to Kali.

“I won’t need to. I’ll be king soon, and nobody will be able to order me around afterwards.”

Kali looked at him with pity in her eyes. “I should never have let you touch it as much as I did. It corrupted you.”

“I’m not corrupt! I’m smarter than you, kali. Stronger than you. I’ll make a better ruler than you ever did. Can’t you hear it saying my name? It belongs to me, not you.” As he said this, his voice grew soft, and he reached into his jacket to pull out a weather-beaten crown, well taken-care-of but still showing signs of aging.

Mercury looked upon it fondly for a moment, until his eyes flew open in alarm and his hand darted to his throat. Choking noises started to fall from his lip and Bela looked over to see Kali standing with her hand outstretched toward him. That wasn’t something she’d told Bela about.

“Ah-ah-ah,” Crowley finally interrupted. Kali turned to see him clutching the seashell around Bela’s neck in his hand. “I think you should let him go, or this necklace might find itself suddenly far away from Ms. Talbot. Would be a shame to have to watch the life drain out of her, don’t you think?” Kali dropped her hand and Mercury gasped in air loudly.

Bela breathed in sharply. “What is he talking about?”

Kali squared her shoulders, trying not to look ashamed. “I told you not to take it off.”

“You never said I would die.”

Crowley tsked. “A lover’s spat, how tragic. Unfortunately we have more important things to take care of right now. You too can work things when you’re both at the bottom of the ocean with weights around your necks.”

Mercury called out suddenly, in that same strange language, and two men appeared behind Kali, each grabbing one of her arms. They were police officers, with the same vacant looks on their faces as the one already in the room. Kali tried to jerk out of their grasps, but Crowley cleared his throat and tugged sharply on the necklace, causing her to stop. 

“I think we should finish this where it all started don’t you? Down at the pier, I think I’d like to be near the ocean,” Mercury said, grinning as if he’d already won crown and kingdom. 

Bela felt the weight holding her to the wall suddenly release and she fell to her knees. Crowley tugged her back up, still tightly clutching the shell, and pushed her to walk in front of him. 

They made their way out of the building through the back, and Bela found herself being forced into a police car. The ride to the beach felt longer than it was due to the thick silence that nobody wanted to break. Except Crowley, apparently, who whistled for the last half. 

Once they arrived, Bela was pulled from the car. The wind buffeted against them, as if trying to push them away from the water. Bela tried to catch Kali’s eyes a few times but she only looked straight ahead the whole time.

They started approaching pier 59, and Bela tried furiously to think of a way to get Crowley away from her. 

“I feel like I should let you know that ‘Claudius’ really is a giveaway in terms of betraying people.”

Crowley snorted. “What can I say? I’m a fan.”

“You know he dies in the end, right?”

“Everybody did. I’m still allowed to appreciate his values.”

Bela felt the sand of the beach turn into the solid wood of the pier. “How much are you getting paid for this?”

“More than you could imagine. These mer people really know how to hoard wealth.”

Mercury turned around to face them, walking backwards and yelled angrily, “Crowley! Stop talking to the hostage.”

That was what she needed. Bela thrust her elbow back, hearing the satisfying crunch of Crowley’s nose behind her. She felt him drop the seashell and without hesitating she lunged forward at Mercury. They hit the pier together, Bela’s hands closing around the crown while Mercury tried to jerk it out of her grasp. By the end of the tussle, Bela managed to wrestle it away from him, rolling over and rising to her knees to run to Kali. She stopped cold when she heard him laughing behind her.

That was when the voices started. It whispered beautiful things to her. She wasn’t sure what it was saying but she suddenly knew that she was meant to wear the crown. It would look amazing on her. It was perfect for her, as if it had been made all those years ago with her in mind. Yes…it had been made specifically for her. And now she’d found it.

It called her name too, and she lifted her arms to put it on. BelaBelaBela. It sang. 

“Bela!” it shouted. No, wait…that wasn’t the crown. That was another voice, not nearly as pretty as the crown, and Bela froze.

“Bela, please put it down, please.” She sounded so worried and sad. Sad enough that Bela paused with the crown a few inches above her head. “Bela, listen to me! Put it down, right now.” 

The voices in her head got louder, one begging her to wear it, the other pleading with her to put it down. She was so confused. “It wants me to have it.” Her own voice sounded broken to her ears. 

Yes.

“No.” Bela wanted to cry. She took a deep breath. The air tasted like salt and smelled like seaweed, and Bela remembered. Kali. The crown was trying to kill her and Kali was trying to save her. She finally came back to her senses, looking up at Kali’s distraught expression.

“Put it down,” Kali said firmly, relieved now that Bela was meeting her eyes.

Instead of dropping it, Bela held it out. The crown still sang to her, sad and angry that she was leaving it, but it belonged to Kali.  
Kali stepped forward to take it from her, and suddenly Bela felt a sharp pain at her neck. She looked down in confusion and watched as a seashell shattered at the ground beneath her feet. 

She heard Kali scream but didn’t think much of it as she felt all the energy leech out of her body. She fell to her knees, still clutching the crown, but its effect on her seemed to end entirely now that her limbs were turning to lead.

“I was really looking forward to watching you get your throat ripped out, but this’ll have to do I suppose.” She recognized the voice as Crowley’s, but she wasn’t aware of much else. She could feel herself fading, like watching the sand drain out of an hourglass.

There was a loud splash off the side of the pier, and suddenly Mercury was stepping in front of her. 

“I can save her life, but you have to promise to cooperate.”

Bela looked up at Kali, now being held by only one officer. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

Mercury smirked. “You don’t, but what option do you have?”

Kali looked at Bela. There was fury in her eyes like Bela had never seen before, like all the rage of an ocean storm poured into one person.

“What do you want me to do?”

“We’re going to walk to the end of the pier, you’re going to take the crown from her and then you’re going to give it and all authority over the kingdom to me.”

Some small part of Bela rebelled against the idea of someone taking away the crown, but it was small compared to how hard she was fighting just to keep her eyes open. Even her lungs felt tired, and breathing was becoming more and more difficult.

She wasn’t fully aware of how, but suddenly she was being dragged to the end of the pier, her arm thrown over Mercury’s shoulder and one of her shoes falling off in the process. When they stopped walking, she felt the wind pick up, and she could hear Mercury talking again. Always talking. 

She watched groggily as the officer let go of Kali’s arm and she walked slowly toward Bela. Bela watched the wind caress her face, wiping away the tears falling down her cheeks. She wanted so badly to comfort her, but she could barely hold her head up, let alone talk right now. She knew she was dying, but she was too tired to care. She knew Kali would probably die too, and though she felt a pang of regret she still couldn’t move.

Kali was in front of her now. She heard Mercury saying, “Now take it and put it on my head.” Kali gently pulled the crown from where it dangled in Bela’s grasp, and paused, staring at Bela in desperation.

“Give it to me, Kali.”

Kali slammed the crown onto Bela’s head. She was mildly confused as to why, but she felt Mercury stiffen like a board next to her and let go of her in shock. She started to slide down toward the ground, but then Kali’s arms were wrapped around her, holding her up. She stsill had enough sense to be pleased about this development. Kali was whispering something into her ear.

“Bela Talbot, I relinquish my throne to you.”

The words didn’t make sense. They just swam around in her head, echoing back and forth, and suddenly Bela’s world turned upside down. 

She tumbled into the water. She could hear Mercury screaming for a second before the ocean swallowed the words. She and Kali sank down, further and further, the crown heavy on her head but it was silent now. 

She could feel herself drifting off into unconsciousness once again, momentarily annoyed that this had happened so many times, when she felt a quick surge of warmth spread from the crown of her head down to her toes. She buried her face in Kali’s neck and slept.

 

She woke under water once again, feeling well-rested and calm. The kelp swayed around her in a gentle current and sunlight streamed through the water and danced in the ripples above her. She tried to sit up and realized that she wasn’t lying on the ground like she’d assumed. Instead she was floating a few feet above the ocean floor, her legs transformed into the one long fin, similar to Kali’s only colored with black and white stripes. 

She jerked herself upright, still not used to controlling her new body, and spun around. Kali was there, waiting for her like always. 

She smiled at Bela. “Before you ask, no. I didn’t know this would happen if I gave you the crown.”

Bela gave herself a once over, noting each change to her body. She ran her fingers over the gills on her neck and held them there as she asked, “Is it permanent.”

Kali shrugged. “You’re the first person this has happened to, Bela. The first of your kind.” She smiled sadly and continued, “Tari’s trying to find some spell that can return you, but for now I’m afraid you’re stuck here.”

Bela reached up, running her fingers along the crown still sat upon her head. It was so light it didn’t feel like she was wearing anything.

“You gave your kingdom to me?”

Back in the water Kali carried herself in the same regal manner, almost looking down her nose at Bela. “Technically, yes. I gave you the right to my kingdom in order to save your life, an incredibly stupid decision, looking back.”

She away then fixed another gaze on Bela. “I am glad you’re alive though.”

Bela held her gaze, a small smile making its way onto her face. “Kali…I can’t run your kingdom.”

Kali kept her serious gaze for a moment longer, then devolved into laughter. “I wasn’t actually going to let you make political decisions, but for all intents and purposes that crown is yours for now.”

Bela pulled it off her head, swimming forward and placing it on Kali’s. “Kali, I hereby relinquish-“

“No!” Kali pulled it off and thrust it back to Bela. “For all we know that could be the only thing keeping you alive. If you’d like to give it back to me I’d be willing to try, but please wait until we’re closer to the surface where you won’t drown.”

Bela looked thoughtfully down at it. “This could make me human again?”

Kali’s face fell, and she nodded. “It’s possible.” Bela didn’t say anything. “There’s another option I’d like to present if you’re willing to listen.”

Bela looked up curiously, which gave Kali enough incentive to consider. The tip of her tail flicked back and forth nervously. 

“I could have a second crown made. A new one, for myself. That one was getting old anyway. You could keep that crown, and stay down here. Stay…with me?” She struggled to bite out the last part but managed to hold Bela’s gaze.

Bela looked down at the crown again in shock. She opened and closed her mouth a few times as Kali waited with baited breath. The silence stretched until Bela finally looked up and softly asked, “Wait, what happened to Mercury? And Crowley?”

Darkness clouded over Kali’s face. “Traitors are given trial and dealt with. Crowley disappeared, like the coward he is.”

Bela didn’t bother to ask how they ‘dealt’ with traitors, but had a feeling she wouldn’t be seeing Mercury anytime soon. She tried to imagine what it would be like to lose a friend that had been around for hundreds of years, but even living that long was unimaginable. She almost told Kali she was sorry but the words sounded hollow in her mind. 

Kali started to look worried. “I’m sorry if I’m overwhelming you. I should have let you adjust.”

Bela smiled tightly and shook her head, which she hoped translated that she would be fine. She stared at Kali. Eight hundred years…Bela imagined getting to see Kali’s face every day for hundreds of years. Watching Kali float back and forth when her mind ran off track. Spending each day trying to make her laugh, just so she could see those deep brown eyes dance with her head thrown back. 

A smile spread across Bela’s face, her cheeks stretched so far it hurt, and Kali raised her eyebrows in surprise. Bela reached down to lace their fingers together, and with a wink she lifted the crown to rest on her head once again.


End file.
